Style of writing

In your essay you are asked to focus on Michiko Kakutani’s style of writing. Upon reading the article “Light Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You”, you will notice that the author’s tone is ironical and critical towards the censorship of literature.

Irony

The irony is noticeable from the title of the article which mimics Mark Twain’s style of writing in the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

“Light out” is a less known English phrase, meaning “to leave in a hurry”, and it appears several times in Huckleberry Finn. This immediately makes the reader think about the phrase “lights out” which means night-time or darkness, or that something, for example, the day or the show is at an end. It is used figuratively here seeking to highlight that due to the efforts to 'clean up' Huckleberry Finn, the historical truth will be obscured, silenced, hidden in darkness. Moreover, the author intentionally uses “sivilize”, as a reference to Huck's pejorative use of the word, highlighting Huck's opinion of conformation to the rigid rules of society. Huckleberry Finn is once again forced to run away, to escape the 'sivilizing' efforts of those editors who want to ‘sanitize’ his text.

As you continue reading, you will notice that the examples of literature, theatre, music, and film censorship are often ironical and sarcastic, meant to show the absurd consequences of censorship: “There have even...